Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of certain male orders of knighthood or merit, such as the Legion of Honor in France.
  • noun A French nobleman of the lowest rank.
  • noun Used as a title for such a nobleman.
  • noun A knight.
  • noun A chivalrous man.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A horseman; a knight; a cavalier; a gallant soldier.
  • noun The lowest title of rank in the old French nobility.
  • noun A member or knight of an honorable order, especially one who holds the lowest rank in such an order when there are more ranks than one: as, a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. The word in this sense is not used as a title of address. Compare cavalier.
  • noun In heraldry, an armed knight, usually mounted. If mounted, the blazon should state the fact.
  • noun In ornithology, an old and disused name of the greenshank, redshank, and other birds of the genus Totanus. Also called gambet and horseman

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A horseman; a knight; a gallant young man.
  • noun A member of certain orders of knighthood.
  • noun one who lives by persevering fraud; a pickpocket; a sharper.
  • noun (Eng. Hist.) James Francis Edward Stuart (son of James II.), called “The Pretender.”
  • noun Charles Edward Stuart, son of the Chevalier St. George.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A cavalier; a knight.
  • noun In tarot cards, the card between the valet and the dame

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a gallant or courtly gentleman
  • noun French actor and cabaret singer (1888-1972)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English chevaler, from Old French chevalier, from Late Latin caballārius, horseman; see cavalier.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Old French, from Latin caballus

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Examples

  • The chevalier was the second son of a French gentleman of large estates in France, who had been some years deceased.

    A Sicilian Romance 2004

  • Peregrine, not a little piqued to hear the qualifications of such a celebrated actor in England treated with such freedom and disrespect, answered, with some asperity, that the chevalier was a true critic, more industrious in observing the blemishes than in acknowledging the excellence of those who fell under his examination.

    The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle 2004

  • “The chevalier is a fool!” declared Martial promptly.

    The Honor of the Name �mile Gaboriau 2003

  • The chevalier is a great soldier and the bravest of men, but he has one fault.

    The Masters of the Peaks A Story of the Great North Woods 1890

  • He noticed also that while the others were drinking wine, although he himself did not, the chevalier was the only one within his view who also abstained.

    The Hunters of the Hills 1890

  • But it passed, as he remembered that the chevalier was a woodsman of experience and surpassing skill.

    The Shadow of the North A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign 1890

  • It is only that the lion, Nero, that is, the chevalier's special pride and special pet, seems to have undergone some great and inexplicable change, as though he is at times under some evil spell, which lasts but a moment and yet makes that moment a tragical one.

    Cleek, the Master Detective Thomas W. Hanshew 1885

  • It is only that the lion -- Nero, that is, the chevalier's special pride and special pet -- seems to have undergone some great and inexplicable change, as though he is at times under some evil spell, which lasts but a moment and yet makes that moment a tragical one.

    Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces Thomas W. Hanshew 1885

  • "The chevalier is a fool!" declared Martial promptly.

    The Honor of the Name ��mile Gaboriau 1852

  • When I came into the world the only living member of the younger branch was Monsieur Hubert de Mauprat, known as the chevalier, because he belonged to the Order of the Knights of Malta; a man just as good as his cousin was bad.

    Mauprat George Sand 1840

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